The Rare Disease Social Research Center

Research focus: Members of the Rare Disease Social Research Center (RDSRC) conduct interdisciplinary and comparative qualitative research at the intersection of sociology of health and illness, medical anthropology, medical technologies, bioethics, and disability studies. Specifically, we attend to the lived experience of people with rare and/or chronic conditions and their caregivers. We further examine health care policies and practices, knowledge production, the role of different stakeholders (health professionals, patient advocacy organizations, health policy makers, etc.) and biomedical technologies in the field of chronic and/or rare diseases. Recently, we have started analyzing rare diseases in the context of global health. We are also interested in scrutinizing the relationship between health and religion, health and environment as well as health and migration.

The RDSRC organizes a seminar series on “Society and Technologies on Health and Illness”; during the winter semesters of 2022-23 and 2023-24, the RDSRC held a seminar series on “Critical Mental Health.” In summer semester 2025, we intend to launch a new seminar series on “Experiencing technological frontiers in rare and chronic diseases.” This seminar series is co-organized in collaboration with Dr Eva-Maria Knoll from the Institute for Social Anthropology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. All seminars are open to PhD students. Additionally, the RDSRC organized two international workshops on rare diseases at IFiS PAN in Warsaw, Poland (March 2022) and at the Brocher Foundation Center in Hermance, Switzerland (May 2023; co-organizer: Institute for Social Anthropology, Austrian Academy of Sciences). 

For a full list of RDSRC members and collaborators and for more information please view our website at: https://rdsrc.ifispan.pl/en/ 

Recent research projects:

• 2024-2026: “Transition in Rare Diseases.” Joint Project under the Scientific Agreement between the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. PIs: Malgorzata Rajtar (RDSRC/ IFiS PAN) & Eva-Maria Knoll (Institute for Social Anthropology, Austian Academy of Sciences).
• “The body, the mind and the making of modern Turks. A social science study of mental health approaches in post-1923 Turkey.”  PhD project. Baris Kamyab Muhammedrezai, M.D. (GSSR).
• “Depression in Poland. Between local and global discourses.” PhD project. Beata Szulęcka (GSSR).

Head of the RDSRC and member of the RDSRC with PhD or Habilitation degree: 

Dr hab. Małgorzata Rajtar, prof. IFiS PAN/ Associate Professor

Faculty interested to serve as supervisor or co-supervisor to GSSR PhD students:

Małgorzata Rajtar: mrajtar@ifispan.edu.pl 

I am interested in supervising students whose work intersects with any of my areas of interest.